Three Letters
by Five Minutes Til Bedtime
Summary: SPOILERS FOR FINALE! Reaction story. Three letters, one stool, and the future. One-shot.


Title: **Three Letters**

Summary: SPOILERS FOR FINALE! Reaction story. Three letters, one stool, and the future. One-shot.

Fandom: Glee

Word Count: 1,294

* * *

The three letters lay on the choir room stool. They aren't opened. Their enormity is concealed beneath the thin pressed paper bearing each of their names – futures about to be changed forever.

Rachel Berry, the girl who was a star; Kurt Hummel, the boy who would not give up; and Finn Hudson, he who changed the most, stood in a triangle around the stool. Their hands were clasped tightly to each others – whatever would happen, they would always been together.

Finn took a deep breath. "I'll go first," he said, trying to keep the quiver from his voice. "I have a…a good feeling about this."

_Finn was nervous. So nervous his hands felt like waterfalls of sweat and his hair was beginning to stick to his forehead. The college scout – Mr. Collins – folded up Finn's application letter and tucked it into his clipboard._

"_Now for you dramatic monologue. Whenever you're ready, kid."_

_Finn nodded a bit too fast and quickly walked up to the stage. The letter had been hard – he didn't know what to say at first, then he had too much – it was only with the help of Rachel and Kurt that he had gotten it to what it was. Collins seemed happy with it. But the letter was the easy part. _

_Finn couldn't go to acting school without being able to act. He took a deep breath as he reach front center stage. _Act_, he breathed. _Act. Act. Act._ He could do this. Finn _knew _he could do this. _

_He opened his eyes and turned around. In the moment, he became another person. His body felt different, moved different. His tongue was light and airy and old. Words that had taken him months of laborious study to memorize fell of his lips like plays on the football field. He walked around the stage, his palm dry – prowling like a caged tiger that knew the weak stop in its prison. He looked the scout in the eye and smiled. He growled and bemoaned and shouted his ire to the heavens. _

_For a short four minutes Finn Hudson acted and when he was finished the scout's hands left his clipboard and came together, three times, very loudly. _

"_Very nice, Mr. Hudson. You'll be hearing from us soon. Thank you."_

Finn drew up the memory and wrapped it around him like a knight's armor. His spine straightened even as his hands shook as he reached for the letter. He tore it open clumsily, with fingers like a child's, and the letter came into his hands.

He saw the first sentence and almost couldn't believe it – though at the same time he knew it could be nothing else.

"I got in," he whispered. "I got in!"

Rachel and Kurt instantly swarmed around him, pulling him into a tight hug. He bathed in their presence for a moment, before gently pushing them back.

"Alright, who's next?"

_Kurt was panting. Of course he was – he'd just danced around like a man on fire in the tightest gold pants that existed to man. He put his hands on his hips and forced himself not to bend over. _Come on Hummel_, he growled to himself_. You nailed this.

_And he did. He knew he did. Just like he knew that throwing off that mask and cape was the smartest decision of his life, whether he got in or not. Playing it safe was not how Kurt Hummel lived, he would be damned if he changed that now._

_His eyes worked against the harsh stage lights to seek out the woman seated in the audience. It took him a moment to see her face – a second longer to meet her eyes._

_Kurt stared into the eyes of the woman who would decide his future. He met her harsh gaze unflinchingly. He was Kurt Hummel and he bowed to know one. The nervousness from earlier had melt off the moment he'd tossed the mask away. _

_Kurt didn't need a mask to be brilliant – NYADA could take him as he was or not, he would not be moved._

_Because Kurt _knew _he had done all that he could. He _knew _that he deserved this. _

_And if this woman couldn't see it, than she clearly wasn't deserving of her reputation._

Clenching his fist, Kurt put up his chin.

"Time to get this over with," he declared. His hand didn't shake as he took the letter – what was in it was irrelevant. His future was his either way.

He cut the envelope open precisely and let it fall to the floor as he pulled out the letter within. With one quick breath, he unfolded it.

_Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that…_

The tears sprang instantly into his ears. He covered his mouth and stared wide-eyed at Finn and Rachel.

"I-I got in," he said. Like Finn, it took him a moment to find his voice. "I got into NYADA!"

It was like conformation. Kurt hardly felt Rachel and Finn's arms around him. His body was shaking. Every slushy – every dumpster dive – every body slam – they were all over. He was going to New York. He was going to be a singer. He was going to be on Broadway.

He'd finally fulfilled his promise to himself – that one day he would get out of Lima, Ohio and leave all of the fears and anger and hurt behind him.

This letter was not just a gateway to his future but the final healing touch to his past.

There was just one thing missing.

Kurt put his hands on Rachel's shoulders and looked his in the eyes.

"Go on, Rachel. This is your time."

Rachel froze – her happy smile freezing like a blurry picture. Her eyes flickered to the last letter. Her last hope.

This was it.

And she was Rachel Berry, the girl who signed her name every day with a star.

Girl like Rachel were not afraid of rejection. Girls like Rachel were not rejected, because there was never a girl more motivated and passionate than Rachel.

And she hoped that she had proven that.

_Jesse found her after everything. He took her hand and he pulled her aside, away from the New Direction's ecstatic celebrating, out of the lobby and into a side hallway. He looked nervous, something she knew he rarely did when not around her._

_She really hoped he wasn't going to try to kiss her._

_He did it anyway. He took her shoulders and gently pressed his familiar lips against hers in a chaste but warm kiss. _

_He pulled away after a beat and took her breath with him._

"_I'm sorry, Rachel, but I had to. One last chance to kiss you before you go off to Broadway and fulfill both of our dreams."_

_Rachel was speechless. Jesse was being completely open – his longing and hurt and regret were shining in his eyes, as well as his determination._

"_I just wanted to let you know that I have never met anyone more talented than you, Rachel Berry. And that's what I told the scout. NYADA is yours Rachel, I've never been more certain of anything in my entire life."_

She picked the letter off the stool. It felt light but that was to be expected. She was aware of nothing but the smooth paper in her hands, the blood rushing in her ears, and the presence of the two men she loved the most.

Her fingers work the envelope open. She gently pulled the letter free as though it was a bird about to fly away.

For one brief moment she closed her eyes and she put every single wish and hope and dream into that second.

When she opened open them again, she saw only one word.

_Congratulations!_


End file.
